Samsung tops Apple in smartphones, blows past Nokia to end 14-year run at No.1 in mobile

Samsung reported a blow-out first quarter on Friday as strong mobile phone sales helped the consumer electronics giant increase profits by 82% to a record 5.05 trillion won. The numbers were undoubtedly impressive as they stood, but market research firm Strategy Analytics helps us paint a broader picture of just how dominant Samsung’s mobile business was in the first quarter. On the smartphone side, Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung sold a staggering 44.5 million smartphones into channels last quarter, overtaking Apple’s 35.1 million iPhones by a landslide and making Samsung the top-selling smartphone vendor in the world.

“Global smartphone shipments grew 41 percent annually to reach 145.3 million units in Q1 2012,” Strategy Analytics analyst Alex Spektor said in a statement. “Samsung overtook Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with a record 31 percent market share. Samsung’s global smartphone shipments rose 253 percent annually to 44.5 million units, as demand surged for its popular Galaxy models such as the Note, S2 and Y.”

According to the firm’s estimates, Samsung’s total mobile phone shipments reached 93.5 million units in the first quarter, giving the vendor a record 25% share of the global cell phone market. Nokia’s handset shipments declined 24% to 82.7 million units in the quarter, making Samsung the No.1 mobile phone vendor in the world and ending Nokia’s 14-year run as top handset vendor.

“Nokia’s global handset shipments declined a huge 24 percent annually to 82.7 million units in Q1 2012,” Strategy Analytics’s Neil Mawston said. “Volumes were squeezed at both ends, as low-end feature phone shipments in emerging markets stalled and high-end Microsoft Lumia smartphones were unable to offset the rapid decline of Nokia’s legacy Symbian business. Nokia was the world’s largest handset vendor between 1998 and 2011, for 14 years, before finally yielding top position to rival Samsung this quarter.”